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New Garmin and windscreen turbulence

So I bought the new Zumo 396 LMT-S on sale after using a 660 for the last couple years. It has the Garmin “curvy roads” feature and a bunch of other upgrades. It works quite well, and the curvy roads function actually works surprisingly well. It can also plan round trip based on distance or time, so you can tell it to plan a round trip for an hour ride, with the curvy road feature. Pretty nice, especially for short after work or weekend rides. The media player and phone integration are also much, much better than the 660.

The other interesting thing I discovered is when I removed the old 660 from the jury rigged system above my instrument cluster. I’m using a Calci screen that has the lower cut out to allow some air to move behind the screened to reduce low pressure behind the screen and reduce turbulence. With the 660 mounted above the instrument cluster, I was blocking that airflow and was getting more turbulence right at the top of my helmet, which was very irritating because it created a low rumble through the helmet. I moved the new 396 to a mount on the tree clearing up that space behind the CalSci screen, and voila the turbulence is gone.

I saw a guy on YouTube explaining this wind screen phenomenon and thought I would test it out, and sure enough it had a pretty noticeable impact. So I guess I won’t be trying to mount the new 396 above the instrument cluster even though that’s a better spot for viewing it.

Usually on my 50ft liveaboard (tiny house) yacht tied up in Oregon, but also Space-A alot to SE Asia

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When that GPS comes out in a 7” version, I will be 1st in line to get one; my old eyes just need a big screen. Also I just can’t get away from the ‘above speedo’ location. Having the GPS in my natural line of sight, even with any location caused turbulence, is much more preferable than the bobble-head effect when located below elsewhere.

Ray

Last edited by Nofear2trek; 13th September 2018 at 04:07.

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New Garmin and windscreen turbulence

Closing the loop on this — I put the new Garmin 396 on a RAM mount on the handlebar tree, and the turbulence I was experiencing with it mounted over the instrument cluster is completely gone. The CalSci screen again is providing a quiet, smooth “bubble.”

I’m using a RAM extended mount so the Garmin is about in line with the instrument cluster, just closer. Not bad, and an acceptable trade off to get back to turbulence-free riding.

Here it is … it is far from scientific and the Aussie in the video gets a bit tiresome. BUT, his theory did give me the notion to remove my gps from that above-cluster location and I can say categorically that the buffeting is gone. I had forgotten the importance of the air flow behind the screen to reduce the negative pressure that creates an “eddy” once the wind breaks over the top of the screen.